12-30-2019, 09:58 AM
Pix should be on their way. Thank you; Scott. We sure had a ball on that Rockledge track. The Shriners built it probably in '61. We raced there Sundays at first, then later on Saturday nights under the lights. We had the Alley Kat team run with us (Aurand's from Pennsylvania), and the Lancer bunch from Ohio. Duke Fox of model engine fame brought a couple of the Fox Champ karts for us to try out. Duke knew Pop from Pop's control line speed racing. Later on, they ran Micro Midgets at Rockledge. The Konigs and one Anzani were fun to watch. Our little team was always there: the "Half-Fast Racing Team", and the bunch from Wyatt Enterprises in Cocoa. Charile Craibe was working at Wyatt's at the time. The Craibes lived very close to us in West Melbourne, and I hung out with Charlie all the time. My Pop always liked Charlie, and from the time Pop bought the Scorpion from Bug in '61 until Charlie bought it, Pop always let Charlie run the kart. When I decided to put triple Macs on my Go Kart 1200, we did the setup in Charlie's pop's shop. Lotta history beginning in '58 with my dead axle Bug Custom single A400 Clinton! Pop got a very early '59 Bug dead axle with dual A400's. We thought that was hot. Charlie's first kart was a '59 dead axle Bug. Charlie put a triangulated frame on the back and added a live axle and a PP58 mounted on the back of the seat. Man, did those things vibrate. I couldn't stand to drive Charlie's Bug, even though he had rubber mounted the '58. I remember going down the back straight beside Charlie on that Bug at the Eau Gallie Speedway, when we were passed up by a 12" rear wheel. The wheel went all the way down the straight, over the West turn bank, and down into the briar patch and pond at the bottom. Charlie didn't even realize he was running on one wheel and a sprocket until he tried to make the corner..... Ted